Ben Stiller To Star, Direct And Produce HBO Comedy Pilot Produced By Scott Rudin; Alan Alda In Negotiations To Co-Star

HBO has assembled another star-studded team for its next pilot, comedy All Talk.Ben Stiller has signed on to star, direct and executive produce the project from acclaimed novelist Jonathan Safran Foer (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close). Emmy winner Alan Alda is in negotiations to co-star in the project, which is being executive produced by top film producer Scott Rudin, along with Stiller, Eli Bush and Foer. Filming is tentatively scheduled to begin in the fall of 2012. Written by Foer, All Talk is described as “politically, religiously, culturally, intellectually and sexually irreverent” and revolves around the daily and life-altering dramas of a Jewish family in Washington, DC. “Ben Stiller continues to be a major, multi-talented star because of his discerning ability to embrace creative and innovative projects – whatever the medium,” said HBO’s president of programming Michael Lombardo. “From major blockbuster motion pictures to small independent films; from Broadway to off-Broadway, the common thread is always the excellence of the material. We were enormously pleased that Ben responded to this extraordinary work from Jonathan Safran Foer.”

Stiller, who started off in TV, toplining his own series, The Ben Stiller Show, will next star in, direct and produce The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. He recently wrapped production on Neighborhood Watch opposite Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill, which is set for release in July. This marks a reunion for Stiller and Rudin who have collaborated many times over the past decade, most recently with the Broadway revival of John Guare’s TheHouse of Blue Leaves and previously in Noah Baumbach’s Greenberg. Their credits together also include Zoolander and The Royal Tenenbaums and a project in the works that would also re-team them with Baumbach, While We’re Young. This is the third high-profile HBO pilot produced by Rudin to receive a green light in the past year, following Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom, starring Jeff Daniels and Emily Mortimer, with Jane Fonda set to recur; and Noah Baumbach’s The Corrections, starring Chris Cooper, Dianne Wiest and Ewan McGregor, with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Bruce Norris, Greta Gerwig and Rhys Ifans in talks to join.